Category Archives: Book Reviews

Review: The Age of Genius by A.C. Grayling

3/5 – This book left me with mixed feelings – especially as Grayling is one of the most respected modern philosophers and I had been excited to read the book (which I would suggest is good for those who already have knowledge about the time period). I agree with Grayling that the seventeenth century was an amazing time in… Read on

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Review: In the Footsteps of the Six Wives of Henry VIII

Our latest review is of the new release In the Footsteps of the Six Wives of Henry VIII by Sarah Morris and Natalie Grueninger. Although this is not a book about the seventeenth-century, one mustn’t overlook the importance of the Tudors upon the Stuart period, and so I was happy to review it here on The Seventeenth Century… Read on

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Review: The Royal Way of Death by Olivia Bland

I really wanted to like this, I really did, but I had some issues with this book. I have to take into consideration that it was written in the 80s, but that really can’t be an excuse for some of the mistakes I found. I’ve based this review on the Stuart section of the book since that is… Read on

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Review: Spirit of the Highway by Deborah Swift

I received this copy of Deborah Swift’s new book in exchange for an honest review. I first came across Swift’s work (The Lady’s Slipper) when I was browsing in Victoria Station, London, a few years ago. I was happily surprised to find a traditionally published book set in the seventeenth century. Deborah is now the author of five… Read on

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Review: Restoration by Rose Tremain

Rose Tremain’s Restoration is probably one of the most popular novels set in the seventeenth century, and with good reason: it’s a great book. Originally published back in 1989, I was but four years old and obviously far too young to read it. That being said, it is lamentable that it took until 2015 for me to get… Read on

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Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier

When I finished listening to the audiobook version of Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier, I was left sitting at my kitchen table in floods of tears. What a moving story! The first thing I thought after I finished was that this was rather like The Bridges of Madison County – a woman is married to someone and has children… Read on

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The Great Courses: The Birth of the Modern Mind: the Intellectual History of the 17th and 18th Centuries

Once again, Audible delivered the goods. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this excellent lecture series by Professor Alan Charles Kors. For those of you who study philosophy, the content may not bring anything new to the table, but for the rest of us I found it immensely enlightening. Some other reviewers have been overly harsh about Professor Kors’s delivery and… Read on

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Blenheim: The Battle for Europe by Charles Spencer

Although the Battle of Blenheim took place in the 18th Century, the historical persons involved were extremely important in Late 17th-century European history. This book, published in 2005, was the second work by historian Charles Spencer that I have read, the first being his Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Kill Charles I, published last year… Read on

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